Sunday, July 22, 2012

The Maruti Workers Struggle - 97 workers arrested







India's biggest car company stopped production at a factory in Manesar on Wednesday after a manager was killed and scores injured after a workers attacked officials, smashed equipment and set fire to parts of the plant.

Trade unionists have accused Maruti of anti-union  activities at the plant, shut for weeks last year due to labour unrest.

The Haryana Police on Sunday said it had arrested six more workers in relation with the attack on company executives 
at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar factory on Wednesday that had resulted in the killing of a senior manager and injuries, 
many severe, to 100 others.

A senior police officer said, “So far, 97 workers have been arrested. Investigations are on. We are trying to trace the other
members of the workers’ union.”

Nepalese Revisionists in Unified CPN Maoist fall apart and decend to physical attacks on each other - the battle of the judas goats*



                                                               


Explanation of Judas Goats


Paroxysm of anger upsets UCPN-M plenum

Factionalism rears its ugly head • Chair hurled at chairman • Bhattarai almost roughed up
TIKA R PRADHAN

KATHMANDU: Situation on the fourth day of the seventh plenum of the Unified CPN-Maoist today turned ugly after leaders and cadres close to Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai engaged in a scuffle over a minor issue of representation.

Tension ran high in the meeting hall after central committee member and Bhojpura State Committee Secretary Anjana Bishankhe, along with her team, began shouting slogans to stop a pro-Bhattarai leader Baliram Sah from airing his views. Dahal’s supporters stood against Sah, saying that he was not their representative. 

Situation could have turned worse had Devendra Poudel, a pro-Bhattarai leader, not stopped a pro-Dahal member, who was just about ready to rough up Bhattarai. Sources said a participant from Bajhang had even hurled a chair towards the rostrum, aiming at Chairman Dahal, but Dahal was unhurt. Pro-Dahal and pro-Bhattarai members were said to have engaged in throwing chairs at each other. 

Party Spokesperson Dina Nath Sharma denied that any such incident had taken place but admitted that there was tension between members over representation. The official bulletin released in the evening said ‘whatever was being talked out was but rumour’. 

Today’s meeting was then called off and leaders were escorted to Nepal Tourism Board, where they held a politburo meeting and decided to allow all the groups to air their views. Sources claimed that Dahal had asked his confidantes, including Janardan Sharma and Lokendra Bista who were said to be too furious, to calm down, saying ‘there was no ideological difference with Bhattarai’ and directed them to defend his political document instead. 

What a politburo member close to Bhattarai told this daily is, however, quite startling. “Dahal and Bhattarai suspect that Vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha is trying to fish in troubled waters. Bishankhe is close to Shrestha,” he said. 

Most of the speakers today vehemently criticised the government and Bhattarai, as prime minister, for signing BIPPA with India, ‘handing over’ TIA management to an Indian company and cracking down on squatters. The party cadres, especially those who are close to Dahal and Shrestha, were furious that Bhattarai had ‘forced PLA to surrender’. Leaders close to Bhattarai failed to defend the government despite they were prepared. This could have led to the scuffle, said a source. 

Meanwhile, Chairman Dahal today told Bhattarai that he was surprised by the activities of his cadres. Dahal said the agitated cadres were shouldering the agendas that have been raised by the Mohan Baidhya faction for long.

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Paroxysm+of+anger+upsets+UCPN-M+plenum+&NewsID=340372

From The Indian Express:

Party colleague punches Bhattarai

Yubaraj Ghimire : Kathmandu, Sat Jul 21 2012, 01:36 hrs
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai was rescued by security personnel after a senior leader of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M) punched him during the national plenum of the party on Friday. 

A protective ring was formed around the prime minister who fell after he was attacked by Janardan Sharma, a former minister and central committee member of the party. The incident occurred when delegates belonging to the prime minister and party chairman Prachanda’s factions argued with each other over who should speak on behalf of provincial committees at the plenum. 

While Bhattarai supporter Baliram Saha was speaking, Sharma rushed to the dais and attacked him. Saha was booed by pro-Prachanda delegates and the situation quickly deteriorated when Sharma targeted the prime minister as well. In the chaos that followed, Bhattarai supporter Prabhu Saha, also a former minister, threw a chair at party chief Prachanda, who left the meeting in panic after adjourning the session. 

Bhattarai had been criticised earlier by members for “mortgaging national interest to India” by signing the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) agreement. The prime minister was to respond to the charge on the last day of the meet. “You have signed unequal treaty with India, and you are planning to hand-over Nepal’s airports to India,” yelled Ishwari Bhandari, a member of the party’s Foreign Affairs Committee. 

The police took over the Rastriya Sabha Griha, the venue of the plenum, and top leaders were evacuated from the hall. The event, was a disappointment to both Prachanda and Bhattarai who had previously declared that the party was united and that factionalism had ended. 

Prachanda called for an emergency meeting of the politburo and summoned the plenum back promising that there would be two speakers each from Bhojpura province representing both the Bhattarai and Prachanda factions. The party decided to bar media representatives from entering the premises in the aftermath of the attack.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/party-colleague-punches-bhattarai/977384/0

From The Himalayan Times:

"Dahal not attacked‚ Bhattarai not manhandled" 

KATHMANDU: In what seems to be a face-saving attempt, the UCPN-Maoist rubbished the media reports about the fracas in the party's ongoing plenum on Friday.

In the official bulletin issued by the plenum's publicity subcommittee on Friday evening, its co-ordinator Bishwa Bhakta Dulal claimed that there was an argument among the representatives from the Bhojpura State Committee only and the media reports that chairs were thrown at Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Politburo member Janardan Sharma manhandled Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai at the closed session of party's ongoing plenum were incorrect.

Dulal claimed that the closed session, which kicked off at 11 am, was put off briefly after the argument over the presentation of report from the Bhojpura State Committee.

”The session resumed after the Politburo meeting assessed the problems seen in the hall and found solution," he said,"A decision has been made to study the differences seen in the Bhojpura State."

Leaders of six groups presented their reports today, while the remaining New State Committee will present its report tomorrow. Seven out of 14 groups had presented their reports at the extended meeting yesterday.

In the closed session that will resume at 11 tomorrow morning, party Chairman Dahal and Vice Chairmen Dr. Bhattarai and Narayan Kaji Shrestha will speak.

The seventh plenum will conclude tomorrow.
http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=%26quot%3BDahal+not+attacked%E2%80%9A+Bhattarai+not+manhandled%26quot%3B&NewsID=340299

"Scientific Racism" The Eugenics of Social Darwinism

This video is well worth studying and makes available Mike Davies's work on Victorian Holocausts in India to a wider public.

The struggle against Social Darwinism and Racism still continues as does the Struggle against Imperialism and Racism.

See Also : http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/american-holocaust-of-native-american.html

International Trade Union Solidarity with day of action against austerity on 19th July 2012 in Spain




Tens of thousands of public employees, trade union members and other Spaniards are marching in 80 Spanish cities to protest the latest batch of austerity measures approved by the government.



Madrid Tonight

FLASH - REVOLTE EN ESPAGNE
********************************************
800 000 à Madrid (25 000 selon la police en poste), 400 000 à Barcelone, 100 000 à Valencia



Spanish trade union confederations CCOO and UGT have called a day of action against austerity on Thursday 19 July 2012 to protest yet again at the austerity policies of the Spanish Government. Just days after receiving loans from the rest of Europe to bail out the banks, the Spanish Government has proposed yet more stringent attacks on the welfare state, hitting the living conditions of workers, pensioners and the unemployed.
CCOO General Secretary Ignacio Fernandez Toxo, who is President of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), has blogged  on Touchstone about the issues underlying the protest.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has sent the following message of 
solidarity and support, on behalf of the British trade union movement:
'I write once again a message of solidarity on behalf of the British trade union movement and its 6 million workers in support of your day of action to protest against austerity. Like ours, your government is still intent on following the path of austerity, even though this has not produced in Spain - or anywhere else in Europe - the economic growth we need. Instead, these policies are creating destitution for the vulnerable, social division and conflict, and greater inequality.
'When governments are dismantling the welfare state, collective bargaining and social dialogue, and while money is found to bail out the banks, workers have no choice but to unite and protest against the injustice, for however long it will take to make those in power change their course.
'We will stand beside you in this and future struggles.'

And ETUC General Secretary Bernadette Segol, who will be attending the protest in Madrid, had this to say:

'The austerity measures have shown that they make the employment situation worse and have impoverished a large part of the population. Often unfair, they solve nothing and open up no prospects for the future. Nevertheless, some countries are continuing along this line, as is the case in Spain today.
'The announced cuts in public spending are increasing social anxiety in a country already deeply scarred by austerity policies. 

That is why I shall be at the side of our Spanish member organisations to demonstrate the solidarity of the European Trade Union movement.'

éirígí's Louise Minihan Speaking Before Imprisonment (18th July 2012)



Solidarity from Great Unrest Group 2012 for a Welsh Socialist Republican Party to Louise Minihan of eirigi.

Visit  http://www.eirigi.org/

Comrades in Wales stand by you and salute your actions.

Solidarity is a weapon that we all need to sharpen - salute to Louise Minihan.

LATEST PROTEST OUTSIDE MOUNTJOY JAIL



The British government accepts that colonial forces in Kenya tortured and abused detainees during the Mau Mau rebellion, the High Court has heard.



Three elderly Kenyans who are suing the government for damages were told it did not dispute that "terrible things" had happened to them.


Their lawyers say it is the first ever official acknowledgement by the UK.

The revolt against British rule in Kenya in the 1950s and 1960s was marked by atrocities, with thousands killed.



The British government argues that too much time has passed for a fair hearing to be conducted.



Before starting cross-examination of witnesses, the QC for the British government, Guy Mansfield, said he did not want to dispute that civilians had suffered "torture and ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration".

He spoke directly to each of the witnesses, saying he did "not want to dispute the fact that terrible things happened to you".

Papers in the test case were first served on the UK in 2009.

In 2011, a High Court judge ruled the claimants - Paulo Muoka Nzili, Wambuga Wa Nyingi and Jane Muthoni Mara - did have an arguable case.

The claimants' lawyers allege that Mr Nzili was castrated, Mr Nyingi was severely beaten and Mrs Mara was subjected to appalling sexual abuse in detention camps during the rebellion.

A fourth claimant, Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua, has died since the High Court ruling that the test case could go ahead.

With the help of interpreters at the High Court, the three - now in their 70s and 80s - were briefly questioned about written evidence they had provided.

In a 20-page statement, Mr Nzili, 85, gave details of being stripped, chained and castrated, with large pliers normally used on cows, at Embakasi detention camp, near Nairobi.

He said: "I felt completely destroyed and without hope. I have never had children of my own and never will have. I am unable to have sexual relations with my wife."

Mrs Mara, 73, submitted evidence describing how, at the age of 15, she was taken to Gatithi detention camp, where she was beaten by the British and subjected to sexual abuse with a glass bottle containing very hot water.

She said she had felt "completely and utterly violated", adding that the pain "has been bad ever since the beatings and has worsened as I have aged".

"I do not understand why I was treated with such brutality for simply having provided
food to the Mau Mau.

"I want the British citizens of today to know what their forefathers did to me and to so many others. These crimes cannot go unpunished and forgotten."

In his statement, Mr Nyingi, 84 - a father of 16 who still works as a casual labourer - described being arrested on Christmas Eve 1952 and held for nine years.

During his detention, in 1959, he said he was beaten unconscious during an incident at Hola camp in which 11 other prisoners were clubbed to death.

It will now be decided whether a fair hearing is still possible.

See Also :

Remembering Comrade Kanhai Chaterjee founder of Maoist Communist Centre by Indian Comrade




On 18th July,1982 Comrade Kanhai  Chaterjee expired ,who made an invaluable contribution to the cause of the Indan revolution, by founding the Maoist Communist Center. Today we dip our blood in his memory.

It was his innovative thinking that made Com.Kanhai Chaterjee  critical of Charu Mazumdar’s C.P.I(M.L.) and it’s tactical line of individual annihilation. Comrade K. C. chalked out a path for the M.C.C whereby they formulated a strategy of heir own. The methods of work they adopted resembled Comrade Mao Tse Tung’s Red Army in the revolutionary war. Few revolutionary books or observers cannot but remember their striking similarity with the Chinese Peoples Liberation Corps, particularly he way they fled to the mountains. It was Comrade Kanhai Chaterjee who believe staunchly that the time was not appropriate for the forming of the party. He felt there had to be greater development in the revolutionary movement to form a party. In his view first an agrarian revolutionary movement had to be launched. Today it is significant that both the Charu Mazumar C.P.I(M.L) and the Maoist Communist Centre are recognized as the founding parties and not just Charu Mazumdar’s party.(The Peoples War and Party Unity Groups staunchly defended the Charu Mazumdar Party as the re-organised party.)

History of the Formation of the Party.(Compiled from PeoplesMarch-Nov 2004 issue) The Maoist Communist Centre was originally called the ‘Dakshin Desh ‘group It was originally apart of he A.I.C.CR but eventually pulled out.

Comrades Kanai Chatterjee and Amulya Sen, while working amongst the masses in Kolkata, Howrah and Hoogli and comrade Chandrashekar Das raised the banner of revolt against the line of the CPM 7th Congress. 


The “Chinta” group was formed in 1965 as a secret revolutionary centre within the CPM carrying out revolutionary propaganda amongst its rank-an-file.

In 1965/66 six issues of the magazine were brought out which dealt with the following topics: (a) the class character of the Indian state, (b) China’s path is our path,( c) neo-colonialism and the weapon of PL role, (d) the Programme of the 7th Congress, the nature of the revisionist leadership and the peasant question in India, etc. The CPM’s English and Bengali organs launched a massive attacks on the articles that appeared in the “Chinta”. This resulted in big discussions throughout the rank-and-file. 


In late 1966 the secret magazine, “Chinta”, was closed down and a magazine named “Dakshin Desh” was brought out openly. The group came to be known as the “Dakshin Desh” group. In early 1967, before the Naxalbari uprising com. Kanai Chatterjee had a long discussion with Com. CM. At this meeting they had a common understanding on advancing the peasant movement and decided to maintain close relations.

But the relations did not grow. From 1967 to 1969 the then “Dakshin Desh” group built up the movement in Kolkata, Howrah, Hoogli, Midnapur, Bardhwan,Birbum and 24 Parganas, together with some work in Assam and Tripura. They built the peasant movement firstly in Sonarpur during the later part of the 60s and then in Kanksa in Bardhwan district. Thereafter they established some contacts with Bihar, it began work there. 


In October 1969 the MCC was formed. It was Com. Kanai Chatterjee who laid the basic line for their Centre in the very first issue of “Lal Pataka” brought out in 1969.

The important topics dealt with were:

(a) the importance of Maoism (then called ‘thought’) in the present era,
(b) in the present situation the tactical line and tactical slogans, the correct policy towards the participation in elections and a correct analysis of the boycott of elections, saying that though it was a question of tactics, it acquires the significance of strategy in the concrete conditions of India,
(c) the Correct line regarding the armed agrarian revolutionary war, that is, protracted people’s war including army building and base areas
(d) correct orientation towards forms of struggle (open and secret, legal and illegal, peaceful and armed),
(e) the programme, tactics and methods of the peasant struggle,
(f) approach and method towards the UF, (h) political propaganda
(g on the women’s question, the student movement and the nationality question in India, and
h) methods of leadership..(excerpted from Peoples March Nov-Dec 2004 issue)



Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Suite and Tie by Hallgrimur Helgason - Post Crash Icelandic Poem




Suit and tie
We're deadly afraid of the clever guy
Wearing suit and tie

They used to roam the streets of Reykjavik
And thought they were what made the city tic

From bank to lunch with Nikkei, Dow Jones and FTSE
Dressed to kill in Armani, Boss and Gucci
Cheerful, laughing, full of self esteem
The players of our national team

But now you hardly see them anymore
The crisis took them through a different door
Their bank got crunched by Euro, Dollar and Yen
So now they're trying Tai Chi, Yoga and Zen
Still they're good in playing the blaming game
The players of our national shame

Iceland: The home of young and retired bosses
And regular people busy counting their losses
The high-flying heroes of good times past
Have come to the ground and had their blast
Hiding inside his fancy house
The bull now meets his inner mouse

The British Nation ? Review of Jack Woddis pamphlet Nationalism and Internationalism by United Scotsman 1973







Mr Woodis's pamphlet is of the greatest importance to all Scots

since it represents the most detailed Communist Party statement on

the National Question for many years. 


Like "Scottish Marxist" the

factors behind its publication are primarily the success of the

U.C.S. work-in and the need to respond in a positive way to the

challenge of Scottish and Welsh Nationalism. Like "Scottish Marxist"

however, it reveals a contradictory and often schizophrenic attitude

to the question under consideration. 


This confusion is underlined

by the ambiguous use throughout of the terras Britain,country,nation,etc.


In the section entitled "Communists and Patriotism" Mr Woodis

assures us that


"Communists,in fact,do not pose their internationalism,their

solidarity with other peoples struggling for their freedom,

against their patriotic duty to assist their own people to

defend their national freedom and secure their own social

emancipation."


He also informs us that


"In Britian,one of the greatest dangers for

the working class movement has been bourgeois nationalism

and racialism,expressed often in racial prejudice and the

toleration of blatant discrimination's well as in the

defence of imperialism. Not only right-wing labour leaders but

but many rank and file workers are prone to defend the

imperialist actions of "our troops" even when they have

been engaged in repressive actions whether it be Ireland,

Cyprus or Aden".


All good, hard hitting comment - and sentiments with which every

radical or liberal-minded Scot will wholeheartedly agree. 

Having

thus isolated the dangerous jingoistic and pro-facist elements in

our midst| Mr Woodis turns to examine the reactions of the working

class movement to such elements,and finds much to criticise.


"In understandable if incorrect,reaction to this jingoist

nationalism,these has often been expressed in Left-wing

circles,especially among the extreme Left,notions of

contempt for any form of national feeling. For this reason

such people scorn the just struggles of the peoples of

Scotland and Wales to secure satisfaction for their national

aspirations."


Least any dastardly Scottish Nationalist has the temerity to impute

such attitudes to the Communist Party Mr.Woodis continues by declaring

roundly that


"Indifference to one's own nation,its historic achievements

and its future,has nothing in common with socialist principles."


Since Mr Woodis is an Englishman it would be consistent with a logical

train of thought to assume that in the above quote, he is reffering

primarily though not exclusively to England. 


It is therefore singularly

disconcerting to discover in the next paragraph that Mr Woodis has

apparently a totally different nation in mind i.e. 'The British Nation !


We are informed that
  
"The British Nation is not Heath,Home,Carr and the


rest of the Tory pack. Neither is it the gang of industrial magnates,bankers and landlords who rob and betray the people.

Source United Scotsman 1973

See Also: